Four-wheeled recreational vehicles have become increasingly popular in recent decades. The acceleration rate and overall versatility of such vehicles has also increased in recent years, which have led to increased accidents and roll-overs. Because of the lack of effective use of safety features, when a four-wheeled recreational vehicle experiences a roll-over, riders may suffer serious bodily injury because they either instinctively extend limbs outside of the perimeter of the vehicle in an attempt to catch their fall, or their limbs are thrust outside the perimeter of the vehicle by the momentum and tossing of the vehicle, thereby causing severe injuries to exposed limbs. In extreme scenarios, riders can be thrust out of the sides of recreational vehicles due to a lack of use of sufficient safety features. Industry standards have been promulgated in an attempt to address the safety concerns of recreational vehicles in response to the frequency and severity of such injuries.
To reduce injuries to riders of recreational vehicles, safety devices and systems have been incorporated into these vehicles in the form of doors, cross members, and/or safety netting. Many of these systems, however, have various limitations related to weight/size restrictions and they require the rider to remove multiple components to enter the vehicle and then require the rider to fasten the multiple components upon entering the vehicle. Often, riders neglect to secure the safety devices or remove them altogether, rendering the safety features ineffective upon accidents, and thereby, exposing the rider to the aforementioned potential injuries.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved safety device to effectively prevent or minimize such injuries while providing a light-weight safety system that obviates the aforementioned problems with existing systems. The present invention provides an integrated safety net for recreational vehicles which overcomes the deficiencies of existing safety systems and which provides protection from bodily injury to the rider due to accidents and roll-overs. More specifically, the present invention includes at least one safety net coupled to the forward end of a rear-hinged door and to the rearward end of the chassis of a recreational vehicle near the door opening. The safety net and the door are integrated such that they cooperatively move as the door is opened and closed, thereby providing minimal operational steps to safely secure the net and the door to provide an improved safety device to protect the rider.